The “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama by the US street artist Shepard Fairey came to symbolise a historic 2008 presidential campaign, became one of the most ubiquitous and reproduced political portraits of modern times, and ended up in the Smithsonian.
Fairey’s latest work, of the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, may not elicit the same response but will, he hopes, deliver a hard-hitting message: one of a promise made.
The portrait, “Home”, captures Burnham in a red Big Issue tabard when, as Greater Manchester mayor, he sold copies with vendor Colin in 2023, and is the front cover of a new collectors’ edition of the magazine.
Designed exclusively for the Big Issue, it’s a reminder to the new prime minister of his pledge to tackle rough sleeping. From Monday, it will be sold on streets, and also be unveiled on the walls of the Saatchi Gallery in London as part of a six-month street culture exhibition, Beyond the Streets.
Fairey said: “The thread that runs through all my work is a push for justice. This portrait reminds us of the pledge Burnham made. Politicians often want people to forget to hold them accountable for the promises they’ve made. This is harder to do when a symbol of that promise is in thousands of people’s hands.”
The art work was created after the Big Issue approached Fairey, who said he was “overjoyed” that the portrait would be in the public sphere. “What I wanted to convey was simply warmth, and a reminder that he has actually been out on the streets promoting and selling the Big Issue, even before he was prime minister,” he said.
The magazine also carries an exclusive interview with Burnham. In it, the prime minister said: “I don’t think anyone should sleep rough in this country … I’m not going to be naive. I can offer people a route off the streets, but not everybody will take it.
“What I can say though is, I can ask every council as part of the funding we’ve given to provide an offer to everyone. And that’s what we’re confident of now …
“Big Issue knows better than anybody. You get a surge of sentiment around rough sleeping later in the year, for really good reasons, but when you hit the earlier months of the new year it falls away. What I’m saying is that public money won’t fall away. That’s the only way to do it. Stop-start is not fair to the organisations that are out there working with rough sleepers. This is a fixable problem and it’s about a national effort to fix it.”
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Those unable to get their hands on a copy by buying one from a vendor can order the limited edition Burnham cover magazine from the Big Issue online shop. The managing director, Russell Blackman, said it was “up there” with some of the most significant Big Issue covers during the 35 years since it launched.
“Over those 35 years, we’ve supported 110,000 vendors who have benefited from buying and selling the magazine. They’ve sold over 230m copies. And that combines to make £162m worth of earnings for those vendors.”
Of the “Home” cover, he said: “For me, this is a symbol of a promise. So this artwork and this front cover of the Big Issue could be part of his legacy if he exceeds in his ambitions, but it also could be a constant reminder that he hasn’t achieved it.
“It’s striking. It’s bold. Every magazine we produce has to be eye-catching, but it always has to have an element of creative activism within that as well.”
